Options
by smileyjunior
Summary: One-shot. Summary contains spoiler for Age of Ultron so summar can be found inside.


Summary: the story of how Natasha met Clint's family.

In their 3rd year of partnership, a mission that had gone sour left Clint Barton with little options. An explosion had rendered his partner Natasha Romanoff, severely injured and while she was conscious he doubted she could moved of her own accord. The blast had managed to knockout both of their coms, and his hearing aids... So really he had no choice. He had taken Natasha and was headed _.

Being only 4:30 am, the land was still and quiet, the darkness might have felt eerie was he not so happy to see the white house ahead. As he walked the steps on to the front porch he could tell Natasha had let slip a rare groan of pain based on the vibrations he felt in his arms. He made his way inside the house as quietly as possible, and headed towards the room in the back, the study, and his current construction project. He put Natasha down on the tarp and spped out of the room. From the pantry he grabbed the fist aid kit, and from a kitchen drawer he got a spare set of hearing aids. He took the busted ones out of his ear and replaced them, adjusting the volume so it would be just-right. When he went back to the study, a small pool of blood had started to spread under Natasha's left side from a gash underneath her ribcage; next to it was what looked like a blood covered metal debris. She must have noticed him staring because she then said in a croaked voice,

"I really didn't want to have to deal wow the possibility of a tetanus shot."

Clint stopped himself from rolling his eyes, first aid kit in hand he knelt down next to her, he took some gauze and he put it over the open wound. She hissed in pain but he didn't let up the pressure. Then he looked her over to see what needed to be addressed next.

The left side of her body had taken the most damage; apart from the gash on her side, the blast from the explosion had burned her pretty efficiently on her left shoulder, upper arm, and collarbone. He put some tape over the gauze and took the burn cream from the kit.

"I need to get the clothing off your shoulder, but that probably means I'm going to slip your suit down." He said reaching for her discolored shoulder, a burn had made it's way through the fabric and onto her skin.

"Gee Barton, buy a girl a drink first." a small smile making it's way to her lips, but the moment Clint slipped the suit off the smile turned into a grimace.

He gently applied the burn cream to her upper left body. She was clenching her teeth, hissing occasionally but overall she was able to keep still.

"Where are we?" She asked.

Clint didn't answer immediately; the only other person who knew about his home was Fury (who had helped set it up for him when he joined SHIELD,) and Coulson, who he trusted more then Fury. Although he hesitated he realized he trusted Natasha with his life. Hell, she only got hurt saving his life. The initial explosion had blown his hearing aids, he didn't exactly know where the danger was coming from. Then out of nowhere he had been tackled the ground by Natasha as a wave of heat passed over them and he could feel the vibrations from falling debris. Then he realized something...

"How did you know I wouldn't get to cover in time after the explosion?"

"Wow, evading my question with another question. So classy Clint."

"Answer my question and I'll answer yours." He said as he gently started wrapping her burn.

She licked her lips, "I've seen you with your aids. When the explosion went off you... You immediately grabbed your head and I figured they had been damaged. You looked so lost, I made a call."

He was somewhat shocked, "You never said anything."

"I figured, if you hadn't told me about your hearing aids it was because you wanted them to be a secret. So I tried to honor that."

He stopped wrapping the burn, "Why would you do that for me?"

Her eyes met his, "I owe you a lifetime debt Clint."

A moment passed as they stared into each other's eyes. He shook his head finally, and went back to wrapping the burn.

"This... This is my home."

"Home?"

"Yes," he said reaching for some bandages "I live here with-"

"Clinton?"

Natasha turned her head towards the new voice and Clint spun around on his heel. A woman with shoulder length hair and kind eyes, and a showing pregnant belly was in the doorway.

"Laura, I'm so sorry. Did we wake you?"

She shook her head slowly, appearing to be in a state of shock. Her eyes were fixed on Natasha. "Clint... Is... Is that...?"

Clint stood up and walked so that he was standing halfway between Laura and where Natasha was lying down. Laura leveled her eyes with his.

"Honey I'm so sorry I figured you were asleep and she," he gestured to his partner "was bleeding out so I had to prioritize." He really wished he could embrace Laura, to give her some comfort and take away some of the shock, it looked like she was about to enter premature labor. But he was covered in his partner's blood. "Laura this is Natasha..."

His wife's eyes lit up in recognition of the name. "Clint... She's losing too much blood."

He hadn't been expecting that response, so it took him a moment before he spun back around to see that blood was seeping through the makeshift bandage he had put over the gash on Natasha's side. "Dammit!" he curses before sending Laura a brief apologetic look. She shook her head,

"What did you expect? It was going to clot out by itself?" She walked swiftly out of the room before returning just as quickly with a small sewing kit. Laura knelt down by the wounded woman with help from her husband a smile gracing her lips. "I've heard so much about you," she said as she pulled out a needle and some special thread. Clint who realized what Laura was doing handed her a lighter. "It's so nice to finally put a name to a face."

Natasha stared at the woman as she threaded the needle then held the lighter to the tip, "I'm sorry I can't say the same."

A light laugh fell from Laura's lips, "Yes well, not a lot of people even know I exist." She poised the needle above Natasha's open wound, "I'm very sorry about this." She stuck the needle into Natasha on one end of the gash and pulled it through on the other side. A few moments passed while Laura continued to see the gash up. Then everyone froze when,

"Mommy why are you sewing a lady?"

A little boy who could be older then 3 or 4 was standing in the doorway. Before Laura could answer the boy had forgotten all about the strange stranger on the floor, "Daddy!"

Clint stood up and went towards his son, doing what he could to hide the gruesome scene. "Hey Cooper. I've missed you buddy." They started heading out of the room together.

Laura finished sewing Natasha up, she stood up "I'm going to make up a bed for you."

Natasha tried to shake her head, "You don't have to-"

"You're not staying on the floor. So don't even think about it."

"Thank-you Laura." The woman started to leave. "Laura?"

"Yes?"

"Is it a boy or girl?"

The woman smiled and rubbed her belly. "It's a girl. Her name is Lila."


End file.
